Review: Deadpool (2016)
****
GENRE: Action / Adventure / Comedy
DIRECTOR: Tim Miller
CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Brianna Hildebrand, Gina Garano
RUNTIME: 108’
DISTRIBUTION: FOX
After an experimental therapy / a real torture for cancer, Wade Wilson gains incredible self-healing powers. But he becomes (literally) a monster, with indomitable vindictive rage, unbelievable foul-mouth and disarming, pitch black, (self)sarcastic humor. Namely, as he would put it, the f***ing coolest super(anti)hero you have ever met.
The… in and out of the closet nerds, geeks και freaks of pop, in general, and comic, in particular, culture held a big grudge against Ryan Reynolds. He was an easy target, you see. Being the star of the «Green Lantern», one – by general consensus – of the worst, childish, miserably disastrous renditions of a comic superhero on the big screen, he was very often at the center of snide references to that Martin Cambell film, from every possible direction (even, systematically, from «The Big Bang Theory»’s Seldon Cooper!). No more. With «Deadpool», whose cinematic reincarnation would never have happened without his daring, fearless contribution, Reynolds makes amends. Oh, how he makes amends!
After six years of trying and a three minutes reel, that leaked online, caused frenzy among the fans and persuaded 20th Century Fox to finally green-light «him», «Deadpool», duly R-rated, and thus uncensored, sallies forth onto the big screen. To take you unawares (weather you are knowledgeable about the original comic or not). And drop your jaw to the floor. From the beginning. At the opening credits. Which start with an astonishing jab at the «Green Lantern». Where the stars and filmmakers names have been replaced by aliases such as «British Villain», «Hot Chick» and «Screenwriters, the real heroes here»! And when these credits conclude and the action commences, the brilliantly audacious and bold surprises continue, with no end in sight…
Deadpool, who takes a taxi (!) to go to «work», talks directly to the camera, and hence the audience, imaginatively breaking the so-called fourth wall. So that to comment on / poke fun at everyone and everything: himself (first and foremost), and the super-hero who rhymes with… «Poolverine», in whose film he made his first appearance, as well as the studio that on one hand green-lighted his movie, but on the other, radically cut its budget. In this adulating, fertile deconstruction / reconstruction of the ethics of the – no longer only alternative, nerdy - comic heroes that have taken the motion pictures planet by storm, his partners in crime are the (over 100 according to Reynolds) witty references to everything pop culture, devised both on screen and in dialogue by the director and the screenwriters (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick). Eyes wide open then (for the t-shirt proudly displaying one of the «Golden Girls», and the helicarrier - only one of the countless, discreet or not, references to the universe of the heroes and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., among others). And lend an ear (for lines like «don't make the super suit green or animated» - another jab at «Green Lantern» and his CGI costume).
Because from «X-Men», the «Avengers» and Deathstroke who left a… bleeding mark on a couple of seasons of TV’s «Arrow», to «The Matrix», «Blade», «Ferris Bueller’s Day Off» (at the post end-titles scene, you better not miss), «Notting Hill», «Oldboy», «The Godfather», Hello Kitty and, as already noted, «The Golden Girls» (!), none of the fairytales that nurtured or is still nurturing us is immune here. A fact that will entertain you, occasionally bringing tears of laughter in your eyes. A fact however that does not take anything away from the film’s specific gravity, when it comes to its more serious, unexpectedly dramatic part, during which Wade becomes aware of his cancer and decides to try a top secret therapy that proves to be worse than torture. Whereupon Reynolds strips naked (literally) his body and (metaphorically) his acting fortitude, so that to enthrall you with a generous… full frontal of emotion. Thus the film becomes perfectly balanced, armed with unmistakable humanity, and turned into something much more than a glib, but empty pop joke. Kudos must go to Miller, Rees and Wernick also, of course. The former proves to be proficient in both the action sequences and the quieter, subdued ones. The latter two, demonstrate that you don’t need to completely lose you humor in order to be taken seriously («Daredevill» anyone?).
Ultimately, there is only one minor objection that keeps this film away of pop-art perfection. The action sequence that comes about immediately after the opening titles, and progresses (with timely pauses for the explanatory rewinds to the past) almost throughout the movie’s first half, is so indescribably, disarmingly, unexpectedly spectacular and saucy that the last confrontation between Deadpool and his nemesis, Ajax, pales in comparison and seems as an anticlimax. Thankfully, this is not where the film comes to a full stop...
IS IT FOR ME?
I couldn’t have put it better than Ryan Reynolds: «I think Deadpool's coming along at the right time, because it's speaking to that generation that has seen all these comic-book films and enjoyed them all; it's speaking to them as though the guy in that red suit is one of them. It's like watching a DVD commentary by someone who's got some pop-culture savvy and is kind of funny and a little obnoxious and is saying the things that you wouldn't say».
This review was first published in Greek in Freecinema's film reviews section.
